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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    BOT a wee bit more ITOT near the Open yesterday before the market recovered. Also added to VGWAX before yesterday's close to catch the expected uptick in foreign markets today. That may do it for me for on BTDip/Diplet activity for the time being at least.
    So...
    Fear is subsiding. Major averages will be back within ~1% of their 50dma's at the Open today. This of course ain't over until it the S&P for one breaks above its 50 and stays there this time.
    Here's free FX T/A from this AM:
    https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/e-mini-sp-500-index-es-futures-technical-analysis-decision-time-for-buyers-at-4399-75-4432-75-785432
    EDIT to add:
    And from after the close. Big day tomorrow.
    https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/sp-500-price-forecast-stock-markets-get-boost-heading-into-jobs-number-785509
  • Is the Stock Market Open at 3 AM? This Startup Says It Should Be
    “A startup trading platform is seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the first U.S. stock exchange that would operate around the clock, including on weekends and holidays. The startup, 24 Exchange, said it filed key parts of its application for a national stock-exchange license with the SEC on Monday, including a rulebook and user manual detailing its proposed approach to trading hours.
    “Under decades-old conventions, the bulk of stock trading takes place between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET on weekdays, and exchanges shut down for holidays, such as Good Friday and Washington’s Birthday. In contrast, 24 Exchange would operate like the foreign-exchange and cryptocurrency markets, which run continuously.”

    Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal October 6, 2021
    Source
    Some observations::
    - Later it’s stated that individual investors want the freedom to trade round the clock.
    - Under the proposal, trading in fractional shares would be permitted.
    - Big time traders / Wall Street professionals aren’t happy with this, as they relish time off for pleasure and relaxation, and apparently would feel a need to stay tuned in to markets 24 / 7 if this passes.
    - Personally, I do some of my best thinking at 3 AM - so I support the idea. :)
  • Will President Biden’s economic stimulus cause inflation? Economists are unsure
    Here is a look at the impact of deficit spending in our still low interest rate world and what the future may hold in store for us despite the deficit's continued growth:
    image
    The Real Cost of U.S. Debt Is Nearer the Floor Than the Ceiling
  • Will President Biden’s economic stimulus cause inflation? Economists are unsure
    There is also a belief that there is no way to fairly tax people to pay down the deficit-spending without destroying America. I can think of a few ways based on who benefited the most from previous government/taxpayer-funded bailouts:
    image image image image image
  • Updated MFO Ratings and Flows: March ... MTD Thru 11 April
    Took a couple days longer than planned. Made mistake of trying to add a couple "Super Bull" market evaluation periods, which messed-up release schedule. Curiosity got better of me. It was prompted by M* CEO Kunal Kapoor describing current bull market as one of greatest, if you ignore the CV-19 Bear of March 2020. Similarly, others ignore the Black Monday Bear of October 1987 when discussing the Bull Market of 1980-1990's.
  • Updated MFO Ratings and Flows: March ... MTD Thru 11 April
    Will continue this thread ...
    All ratings have been updated on MFO Premium site through September 2021, including MultiSearch, Great Owls, Fund Alarm (Three Alarm and Honor Roll), Averages, Dashboard of Profiled Funds, Dashboard of Launch Alerts, Portfolios, Quick Search, and Fund Family Scorecard. The site now includes several analysis tools, including Correlation, Rolling Averages, Trend, Ferguson Metrics, Calendar Year and Period Performance.
  • Will President Biden’s economic stimulus cause inflation? Economists are unsure
    Isn't it funny how when it's government spending to bailout the banks and securities markets, it's saving America but when it's government spending to build/repair roads, bridges, and Internet infrastructure, and to provide healthcare and housing for children and the poor it's a "boondoggle?" Of course, there's this little historical issue with Japan:
    image
  • Will President Biden’s economic stimulus cause inflation? Economists are unsure
    Here's the concept of "Exporting" US Inflation:

    Exporting Inflation to China:
    You might not think that China would want to help the U.S. export its inflation but that is exactly what is happening. Why? China has been the largest exporter of goods in the world since 2009 and their level of exports was increasing since way before then. The primary reason is because they are a low-cost producer. They have low wages and even use “slave labor” to keep costs low. This results in goods flowing from China to the U.S. and money flowing from the U.S. to China. If China were a capitalist country this would result in companies becoming wealthier and people having more money to spend locally and inflating their economy. It would also necessitate that the Chinese companies convert their U.S. dollars into local currency in order to be able to spend it. The exchange process would create a glut of dollars and a shortage of Yuan (aka. Renminbi). Based on the law of supply and demand, this oversupply of dollars should cause the Dollar to devalue on the world market and the Yuan to rise. But the government in China doesn’t want the Yuan to rise because that would make Chinese products more expensive and reduce exports and hurt their economy thus causing unrest and possibly revolt.
    So what does a Communist government do to prevent inflation? They siphon off a good chunk of the profits and buy U.S. Treasury Notes with the money. This pads the coffers of the Chinese Government and creates an I.O.U. on the U.S. Government’s books… but as long as China doesn’t actually try to cash in the I.O.U. nothing happens. It is simply a debit on the U.S. account and all the extra printed money becomes an asset on China’s books. China is happy because its assets are growing, U.S. politicians are happy because they got to spend money on boondoggles that pleased their constituents (while lining their own pockets through “political contributions” from lobbyists) and the only people who are unhappy are those who worry about the growing debt to China.
    how-does-a-country-export-its-inflation
    exporting-inflation
  • 2020-21 Capital Gains estimates
    @David -
    There is a separate pinned thread with a similar title. How do we make sure that all 2021 cap gain information starting September 2021 (when the pinned thread started) will only be posted in the pinned thread?
    Thanks.
  • Edward Studzinski commentary MFO
    I first heard him as a child in the 1950s, and it came to help me understand thoughtless reactionary minds and their frights. Plus wannabe-droll delivery.
  • October's commentary is posted.
    @Charles,
    Thanks for the excellent synopsis of MICUS 2021!
  • Edward Studzinski commentary MFO
    Paul Harvey? Boy, you are old! :)
    Maybe not.
    "In late August [2001], 83-year-old broadcasting legend Paul Harvey returned full-time to radio land. For three months, he'd been out of commission thanks to a lingering virus that zapped his once invincible voice box."
    https://www.salon.com/2001/09/25/harvey_2/
    Paul Harvey Noon News and Comment - Feb. 16, 2009 (Last one by Paul)

    And now you know ... the rest of the story.
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    Hi @stillers
    BTW, it's not shouting with me, it's emphasis. I learned from three decades of communicating directly to senior management of many firms that people many times (1) don't read what was written, I mean literally, they don't read it, (2) many times do not open links and if they do they read only the headlines and/or first para, and (3) miss the main points of what is written unless they are bolded or capitalized.
    AGREE (but not shouting, meaning emphasis).
    Too many times, especially when companies really started using pcs/laptops for all employees, that folks didn't seem to read as well as from printed text.
    I still CAP some words for emphasis and more so will text messages so the full meaning is NOT missed...
    Glad you get the whole emphasis thing.
    THIS IS SHOUTING!!! THIS is emphasis.
    And yep, LOTS has changed with technology and LOTS of it ain't so good for us. (No, I am not related to the Unabomber.)
    A way, way too educated, very close friend is schooling me on what he (at least) refers to as "liquid intelligence." (That might be one of his or his guru's phrases. I dunno. Online I only see fluid and crystalized intelligence.)
    My buddy claims that we, who actually DO read, read SO much SO fast online these days, and we think we are improving our intelligence and/or wisdom with all that intake.
    But truth be told, we are failing miserably on all that as the "liquid intelligence" that we score though all that reading does NOT routinely get converted to I and/or W.
    Think it through.
    Think back to the last five articles you read TODAY. Think of what you remember as the FACTS and/or MAIN POINTS of those articles.
    Then go back and re-read them. Check yourself. How did you do? Maybe pretty good. Maybe not so good. And if you spoke to people TODAY about what you read, you may have sounded pretty intelligent, crap, maybe even wise, about those topics. Maybe not so much.
    Now next week start talking to someone IN DETAIL about those exact same five articles. Tell them the FACTS and/or MAIN POINTS of what you read. How did you do this time?
    If you didn't write them down, will you even remember what they were about in say a month from now when you try to re-test yourself? Good luck with all that.
    I've tried this a coupla times. If it was financial or sports related, I did VERY good on the day I read the stuff. And I still pretty good a week later. A month later, not so good. (Read, "Failed miserably.")
    On other stuff NOT related to finance or sports, the next day and a month later, as Sgt Schultz of Hogan's Heroes fame might say, "I know nothing!" Yep, that "liquid intelligence" easily passed through me.
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    Hey STIllers - Don’t change my words. I said relief bounce. You said relief rally. So, unless your reading in INVESTOPEDIA mentions specifically “relief bounce” don’t tell me I’m wrong. Bounces to me are the opposite of dips. As far as Goldman Sachs goes, it’s nice of them to hand out all that free analysis for we common folks. Kinda wonder what they tell their high dollar clients. Same advice?
    I didn't change your words. I was simply differentiating.
    Nobody (until now) knew that YOU have apparently coined a phrase that (1) likely only YOU use and (2) sounds VERY close to a commonly used industry phrase with a SPECIFIC meaning in the industry.
    FWIW: The "relief" in "relief rally" is investor "relief" from the on-going beat downs in a bear market. We're in a STRONG, LONG cyclical bull market. So USING the phrase "relief bounce" in conversation or print, in reference to this market, would need to be explained to the learned person/investor.
    And you did. So let's just move on with this last thought from me on this:
    If was me, and it ain't, I'd simply say "bounce" and leave the "relief" out during a cyclical bull market.
    ==================================================
    See my other most recent post about Q4 projections.
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    @stillers said:
    GoldmanSachs for one I trust......

    This is where you lose me. GS knows how to make money for GS, but that does not imply that they give out their best proprietary information (or important guidance) to the general public. Nor does any brokerage house.
    What I said was
    GoldmanSachs for one I trust uses some pretty sophisticated programs and their "guess" (if you can call it that) is for a S&P 9% gain in Q4.
    Well I happen to pay the BIG bucks for a coupla newsletters (not GS) and they're saying pretty much the same thing.
    Still lost?
    If you know the history of the S&P's average annual path since 1950 as compared to this year's and that over 70% of semis stocks are already in Correction mode, you know that given that history and the current state of BIG tech, a 9%-10% move UP in Q4 2020 is a REAL possibility. And as I and people in much higher pay grades than me are saying, is likely.
    And FWIW on the free stuff, GS is not alone in projecting a Q4 move UP:
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/rate-fears-just-another-white-knuckle-moment-for-tech-stocks-says-this-analyst-whos-forecasting-rebound-of-at-least-10-11633427803?siteid=yhoof2
    Excerpt:
    ...To closely followed tech analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, this is just a “white knuckle moment” that will soon pass. Ives says the worries around rising yields and growth stock valuations will give way to a year-end rally of at least 10% in the tech space...
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    Hi @stillers
    BTW, it's not shouting with me, it's emphasis. I learned from three decades of communicating directly to senior management of many firms that people many times (1) don't read what was written, I mean literally, they don't read it, (2) many times do not open links and if they do they read only the headlines and/or first para, and (3) miss the main points of what is written unless they are bolded or capitalized.
    AGREE (but not shouting, meaning emphasis).
    Too many times, especially when companies really started using pcs/laptops for all employees, that folks didn't seem to read as well as from printed text.
    I still CAP some words for emphasis and more so with text messages so the full meaning is NOT missed.
    And here, unless doing a general reply to a thread; I will direct a statement or question to an individual(s).
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    Event based markets are difficult to bet on, especially when the event is 2 weeks away. Small and micro caps are in red today. So, it is not full on risk, notwithstanding a decent up day in large cap averages.

    Yep. Anybody’s guess how it will all play out. Not only the debt question, but Evergrande and a lot of other newsworthy issues. I’d expect a “relief bounce” in many markets lasting a day of two if / when the debt issue is settled. However, I still think the path of least resistance near term is down - if we’re talking about the major indexes. That’s not to say some individual stocks and sectors won’t do well.
    Well, for many it goes a bit beyond guessing.
    GoldmanSachs for one I trust uses some pretty sophisticated programs and their "guess" (if you can call it that) is for a S&P 9% gain in Q4.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/05/goldman-sachs-sees-a-big-4th-quarter-with-a-9percent-sp-500-gain-from-here.html
    =======================
    Having been an auditor/audit manager for 30+ years, I'm pretty anal about words as I've seen one incorrect word in a FS footnote can change a person's interpretation of a company's entire financial outlook. (I know, I've read that incorrect "one word" many times and sadly applied ones myself more than I care to remember.)
    "Relief bounces" or more commonly "Relief rallies" are generally associated with secular bear markets:
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/relief-rally.asp
    FWIW, IMO, this is NOT a "relief rally" an I've NOT heard a single person in the biz refer to it as that. Just sayin'.
  • Selling or buying the dip ?!
    In case anyone has NOT noticed this, the national biz media tends to get a wee bit overly excited about SMALL moves DOWN in markets. Break the 50 dma and there's probably gonna be a CNBC "Markets in turmoil" special coming pretty soon. Ring the registers!

    I'm simply reporting on a level below the 50 that we haven't seen in quite a while. There is NOTHING definitive about what's happening. What you do with the info is your business. PERIOD.
    I'll stop shouting in caps if you agree to do the same.
    That's life on the internet pretty much all the time/Life in America in 2021...
    Um, I was NOT (sorry for the emphasis here but I can't say it's not necessary since you are incorrectly blasting me) responding directly to you.
    It was a general comment (as noted by my SPECIFIC use of the word "anyone") based on the scores of articles and posts I've read during the recent Dip/Diplet.
    If I'm responding directly to you, I'll quote you.
    BTW, it's not shouting with me, it's emphasis. I learned from three decades of communicating directly to senior management of many firms that people many times (1) don't read what was written, I mean literally, they don't read it, (2) many times do not open links and if they do they read only the headlines and/or first para, and (3) miss the main points of what is written unless they are bolded or capitalized.